The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is in full gear this week. The event, which draws performers and fans from around the world, will dominate the mining town of Elko, Nevada.
Aside from the spectacular array of day and night performances (I’m keen on seeing poet Paul Zarzyski, Joel Nelson, and Randy Rieman), the Moth Mainstage event stands apart as a new and different NCPG feature.
Saturday night, the Moth storytelling lineup consists mostly of women. (That alone is a departure for a gathering that has historically featured predominantly men. )
Teresa Jordan, the talented writer and public speaker (and also wife of Hal Cannon, the former longtime executive director of Western Folklife) will step on stage as a storyteller and sheep herder from southern Utah.
Amy Hale Auker, a performer and horsewoman from Arizona (and wife of performer Gail Steiger) will tell a story, too. She cowboys for Spider Ranch in Yavapai County, in Arizona.
Otherwise, the event’s director, Maggie Cino, has brought several folks from East of the
Amy Hale Auker
Mississippi:
Micaela Blei is a Moth New York City GrandSLAM champion and Dame Wilburn, a Detroit performer with roots in Georgia, will host.
Nestor Gomez, a native of Guatemala and winner of the Moth’s Chicago Grand Slam event, will tell a story.
Artist and spoken word poet, Bobby Wilson, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota, will be a storyteller. He was born in Minnesota and is now based in Phoenix, Arizona.
The evening’s attendees will hear music from Brigid Reedy. Reedy first entertained the Elko crowds by yodeling at the Pioneer Saloon at the age of two. She has attended every Gathering since (this is her fourth as an invited performer). Check out her music videos here.